EWA Bulletin No. 1/2003 - European Water Association

European Water Association
Bulletin No. 1/2003
July 2003
1. Publications
EWA Yearbook 2003
The next edition of EWA’s Yearbook has just been published. This Yearbook describes all EWA
members, be it National Member Associations or Corporate Members, and gives in addition some
basic information about the water sector in the countries represented within the EWA. The members’
edition has been sent electronically to all members; a public version is available on EWA’s
homepage.
European Water Management Online (EWMO)
Currently twelve articles are included in EWA’s online journal, all of which can be downloaded for
free. All members are invited to contribute articles; articles in other languages then English could
also be published if an English abstract is provided. Links to the national journals can be included
as well.
With the considerable help of the EWA members the Communication Committee (CC), responsible
for the EWMO and chaired by Helena Marecos do Monte, managed to immensely increase the
number of referees for the journal and their range of expertise.
EWA Homepage
As additional service to the members the EWA Secretariat recently established an International
Conference Database on the homepage (http://www.EWAonline.de, item “Workshops and conferences”).
The National Member Associations are invited to send information about their international
conferences to the Secretariat to be included in the database.
2. From the Association
EWA meetings in Lucerne, Switzerland
This year’s meeting of the EWA Council took place
in Lucerne on the kind invitation of EWA’s Swiss
member association VSA. It was combined with a
meeting of the Management Committee (MC), the
European Technical and Scientific Committee
(ETSC) and the European Affairs Committee
(EUC). In addition two workshops and a technical
excursion on the Lake of Four Cantons were organised.
New President and Management Committee
At these meetings a new term of office started for
EWA’s Management Committee (MC). The Vice
President Haakon Thaulow (N) took over the
Presidency from Raymond Pinoit (F). He was
thanked for his committed contribution to the work
of the EWA.
A heartily farewell was also given to Fritz Conradin who resigned his post as chairman of the European
Technical and Scientific Committee (ETSC) to enjoy his well earned retirement.
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From right to left: Haakon Thaulow, incoming President;
Raymond Pinoit, outgoing President; Sigurd van
Riesen, Secretary General (Photo: Claus Hagebro)

European Water Association Bulletin No. 1/2003 July 2003
With some elections made in Lucerne the new MC is composed as follows:
EWA Management Committee May 2003 - May 2005
President Haakon Thaulow, N
Past President Raymond Pinoit, F
Honorary Treasurer Jörg Londong, D
MC member Peter Cook, UK
MC member Jana Zagorc-Koncan, SLO
MC member Jiri Wanner, CZ
MC member Jürg Meyer, CH
Chairpersons of the Committees (without fixed term of office)
European Technical and Scientific
Committee (ETSC)
Bojan Zmaic, HR
Communication Committee (CC) Helena Marecos do Monte, P
Corporate Members’ Group Peter Matthews, UK
Council meeting
The Council was invited to discuss and decide on the Association’s financial matters which included
the Annual Audit 2003 and the budget 2004. A special focus in this year’s discussions was
EWA’s Business Plan and the Association’s profile, including the different benefits of membership
offered to National Member Associations and Corporate Members.
For the first time some Corporate Members followed the invitation to take part as guests to the
Council meeting. The representatives from Aggerverband, Aquadia and RWE Aqua contributed to
the different discussions most dedicatedly and also valued high the opportunity to get in contact
with each other and the Council members.
Workshop on the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive
The workshop about the Water Framework Directive concentrated on two topics. Sigurd van
Riesen, EWA’s Secretary General, reported about the work of the Strategic Co-ordination Group
(SCG) which co-ordinates the elaboration of the Guidance Document. Those shall help Member
States with the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The second part of the
workshop was held by Bojan Zmaic, the new chairman of the European Technical and Scientific
Committee (ETSC) and chairman of EWA’s Groundwater working group. He reported about the
work on the future Groundwater Directive which will be a daughter directive of the WFD.
The transparencies used at this workshop and a detailed report can be downloaded from EWA’s
homepage at http://www.ewaonline.de/downloads/wfd.zip. The workshop was highly appreciated,
and it was decided that a similar event should be organised in combination with every Council
meeting.
Meeting and workshop about Central and Eastern European Countries
Another workshop took place to deal with the special situation of member associations from Central
and Eastern European Countries in the light of accession to the European Union. The attendants
presented their country’s situation and the information needs that their associations have towards
EWA. A working group “Central and Eastern European Countries” was created to implement
the different proposals how EWA could provide assistance and support. A detailed report about
this meeting can be found at http://www.EWAonline.de/downloads/luc_ceec.pdf. It was agreed that
a similar meeting should take place at every Council meeting.
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European Water Association Bulletin No. 1/2003 July 2003
New members
Two new Corporate Members have joined EWA in 2003.
Aggerverband from Gummersbach (Germany) joined in January 2003 and is a water association
according to the regulations of the German federal state North-Rhine-Westphalia. In a rural area it
operates two drinking water reservoirs that supply about 500.000 people per year with approximately
25 Mio. m³ drinking water. A third reservoir provides 12 Mio. m³ raw water annually. On the
wastewater side it runs 38 sewage treatment plants, 10 pumping installations, 150 storm water
overflow tanks and 100 km sewers. Additionally a sewer and pipe network is operated by the Aggerverband.
The Dutch company Aquadia joined the EWA in April 2003. It is a ‘next generation’ marketplace
creating value for its customers by driving awareness and delivering the benefits from its online solutions:
Procurement, Sourcing and Auctions, Collaboration and interactive Business Information
for the water industry. Aquadia’s mission is to become the water industry’s preferred online marketplace
bringing together buyers, suppliers, contractors and other industry professionals to create
the definitive dynamic knowledge and trading community.
An updated list of the EWA members is available on the Association’s homepage. The description
of the new members is included in the current edition of the EWA Yearbook.
3. Technical & scientific work
Working group “Sludge”; Chair: Helmut Kroiss (A)
The group has drafted an EWA statement on the revision of the Sewage Sludge Directive. Experts
are welcome to give their views on the document. It can be downloaded from EWA’s homepage at
http://www.ewaonline.de/downloads/sludge.doc.
Working group “Groundwater”; Chair: Bojan Zmaic (HR)
The group is in contact with the Expert Advisory Forum Groundwater which is responsible for the
drafting of the Groundwater Directive. The chairman has also recently participated to a meeting of
the EAF and had reported on this during the workshop at the Council meeting (see above).
Working group “Central and Eastern European Countries”; Chair: Karoly Kovacs (H)
The group has only recently started its activities with the workshop and a meeting in May at the
Council meeting (see above).
On 17 and 18 June 2003 a conference “European flooding - managing the risks” took place in London.
This conference was organised by EWA’s UK member CIWEM. Being the first international
get-together of flood experts from various disciplines, this conference was highly appreciated by
the delegates who announced in a conference declaration to establish a network of European flood
experts to exchange expertise and experience. A detailed report and the statement can be found
on EWA’s homepage under the item “Workshop and conferences”. Further information about the
network is available from the EWA Secretariat.
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European Water Association Bulletin No. 1/2003 July 2003
Workshops and conferences
The following conferences and workshops, organised either by the EWA itself or in co-operation
with it, will take place in the next months:
Operation and Maintenance of Sewers and Water Pipes
4 to 5 December 2003, Paris (France). The final programme will be available in July.
SUWAMAEurope SUstainable WAter MAnagement: Focus on Different European Experiences
23 to 24 October 2003, Rimini (Italy)
"Instrumentation and Control Systems for Activated Sludge Plants” - European Session
at WEFTEC 2003
14 October 2003, Los Angeles (USA)
Outlook
28 September - 1 October 2004 Aquatech 2004
25-29 April 2004 13th European Water, Wastewater and Waste Symposium
at IFAT 2005
Detailed information about these events including programmes is available on the EWA homepage,
item "Workshops and conferences" (http://www.EWAonline.de).
4. Co-operation with other associations
Memorandum of Understanding EWA-IWA
In May 2003 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the representatives of the European
Water Association and the International Water Association (IWA). It updates and renews the
agreement that the Associations had made in 1984. IWA and EWA agree in this document to cooperate
in the field of conferences and workshops and to exchange know-how. The exchange between
the officials and the representation in the governing bodies is set down as well. In addition
firms which are Corporate Members in both Associations receive a discount of 5% on their annual
membership fee in both associations.
5. Meetings
Future EWA meetings
The European Technical and Scientific Committee (ETSC) and the European Affairs Committee
(EUC) have planned their next joint meeting to take place on 23 or 24 October 2003 in Rimini (Italy)
during the SUWAMA conference. The Management Committee (MC) will meet on 4 December
in Paris during the EWA conference at Pollutec. The new President Haakon Thaulow has invited
the Council members for their next meeting to Norway, to take place probably on 10 to 11 June.
On 23 January 2004 the Executive Directors of the National Member Associations will meet again.
This will be the third meeting for this group, planned to be organised annually. This meeting will
take place in Vienna on the invitation of Manfred Assmann, Managing Director of EWA’s Austrian
member association ÖWAV (Österreichischer Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaftsverband).
For further information please contact the EWA Secretariat:
European Water Association
Dr. Sigurd van Riesen (Secretary General) or
Kirsten Overmann (Technical Assistant)
Theodor-Heuss-Allee 17 D-53773 Hennef Germany
Phone: +49 (0)2242 872-189 Fax:+ 49 (0)2242 872-135
E-mail: ewa@atv.de www.EWAonline.de
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